A thought was posted to my men’s group this week that spurred some conversation. I thought it might be fitting it include it here as well. The question I posed is simple, what are the lies that you have told yourself since when that you used to explain bad or unfortunate things that happened in your life. For me it was something a previous employer told me. “Taoist, you are like that friend of a friend that really weird shit happens to”. At that point in my life some weird shit had happened and there was more to come after that was said. But I took it to heart, that it explained all of the things that had happened in my life that I didn’t care for and was the reason I held on to for oh so long. It proved that I wasn’t at fault for any of it because they “just happened to me”.

It was only a few years ago that I realized that it wasn’t an excuse and that the bulk of the things that “had happened to me” were of my own design or lack of forethought. It is true that a few of them were not my fault as they were generated by the actions of others and I was caught in the crossfire, but they are few and far between when you look at the span of my life. More of some of that later.

So what are the things that you have told yourself to excuse or to make yourself feel better for the bad things that you have lived through? What are the tall tales that you utter to explain your misfortunes? Whats more, what are you telling yourself today? Has that changed any?